Airport month record
PITDEC
Pittsburgh International in December 2025
- Departures
- 3,474
- Month
- December 2025
- National, same month
- 73.2%
- Carriers
- 11
Historical statistics for December 2025, not live status or a forecast for this year’s December. For today’s conditions at PIT, see live FAA status.
PIT in December sits in the middle of the pack with a C. Close to three flights in four arrive on time by the DOT's definition, level with the national rate of 73.2%. The late ones land a little over an hour behind schedule. That rests on 3,474 flights, of which Republic Airways flew 1,026 at 75.8% on time.
Republic Airways is the most reliable of the three carriers covered here at 75.8% on time across 1,026 flights.
Key figures
On time
73.2%
Arrivals under 15 minutes late, of 3,417 completed departures
Avg delay
72 min
Across delayed arrivals only, not all flights
Cancelled
1.50%
Nationally in December: 1.55%
Whole year
81.4%
PIT across all twelve months
These figures cover 3,474 departures from Pittsburgh International in December 2025. On time means an arrival less than 15 minutes after the scheduled gate time, the DOT's threshold, and the national comparison uses every US departure in the same month rather than the whole year.
Against the year
December next to PIT's other months
Against PIT's own year, December ran 8 points worse than the twelve-month rate of 81.4%, which makes it the worst of the twelve months in the data. Either side of it, November ran 84.4% on time and January 79.2%, so a trip moved by a few weeks would have landed in a better stretch.
| Month | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2025 | 3,959 | 76.7% | 82 min | 3.31% | B− |
| August 2025 | 3,841 | 82.6% | 75 min | 1.20% | B |
| September 2025 | 3,672 | 86.2% | 70 min | 0.65% | A+ |
| October 2025 | 3,850 | 83.0% | 62 min | 0.81% | B+ |
| November 2025 | 3,510 | 84.4% | 78 min | 1.77% | B |
| December 2025 (this page) | 3,474 | 73.2% | 72 min | 1.50% | C |
| January 2026 | 3,099 | 79.2% | 81 min | 6.03% | B− |
| February 2026 | 2,943 | 83.6% | 63 min | 2.68% | B |
| March 2026 | 3,434 | 78.6% | 88 min | 2.88% | B |
| April 2026 | 3,531 | 85.3% | 71 min | 0.51% | A+ |
| May 2026 | 3,778 | 84.6% | 68 min | 0.79% | B+ |
| June 2026 | 3,815 | 79.1% | 85 min | 1.68% | B |
Departure window
The best time of day to leave PIT in December
Departure time matters more here than the choice of carrier. The gap between the best and worst window is 23 points, against 3 points between the best and worst carrier. Each bar is the on-time rate for flights scheduled inside that window.
- 5am–8am967 flights83.3%
- 8am–11am596 flights79.0%
- 11am–2pm544 flights74.4%
- 2pm–5pm532 flights67.4%
- 5pm–8pm710 flights59.9%
- 8pm–5am125 flights61.0%
Scale runs 50% to 90%. Rows with fewer than 30 flights show a dash.
The 5pm–8pm window is where this operation falls apart: 59.9% on time, against 83.3% for the 5am–8am slot. By evening the aircraft flying these rotations have absorbed a full day of small delays and there is no slack left to recover in. The 5am–8am window is the busiest, with 967 flights scheduled in it.
Across the week, Wednesday is the strongest day at 82.1% on time and Sunday the weakest at 62.3%. 20 points is a smaller lever than departure hour, but it is free.
Carrier by carrier
Which airlines ran best at PIT in December
The three carriers here are closely matched: 3 points separate the best from the worst. At that spread, schedule and price are better tie-breakers than reliability. Sample sizes are shown so you can see which rows are worth weighing.
| Airline | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republic Airways | 1,026 | 75.8% | 78 min | 1.85% | B |
| Southwest Airlines | 886 | 72.9% | 57 min | 0.79% | C+ |
| American Airlines | 397 | 74.0% | 77 min | 0.25% | C+ |
| United Airlinesthin sample | 292 | 75.6% | 73 min | 0.34% | B+ |
| Delta Air Linesthin sample | 256 | 75.1% | 52 min | 3.52% | B− |
| Allegiant Airthin sample | 156 | 65.2% | 104 min | 0.00% | C+ |
| JetBlue Airwaysthin sample | 151 | 78.4% | 79 min | 1.99% | B |
| SkyWest Airlinesthin sample | 98 | 60.4% | 104 min | 2.04% | D |
| Spirit Airlinesthin sample | 83 | 76.2% | 60 min | 3.61% | B− |
| PSA Airlinesthin sample | 48 | 65.1% | 75 min | 10.42% | C− |
| Envoy Airthin sample | 33 | 59.4% | 43 min | 3.03% | D− |
No carrier stands out. Republic tops the table at 75.8%, 3 points clear of the bottom, which is inside the range this kind of sample moves year to year.
Route by route
Busiest routes out of PIT in December
| Route | Flights | On time | Avg delay | Cancelled | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PIT to ORD · Chicagothin sample | 303 | 68.9% | 78 min | 0.33% | C+ |
| PIT to ATL · Atlantathin sample | 228 | 82.1% | 58 min | 3.51% | B− |
| PIT to LGA · New Yorkthin sample | 222 | 71.7% | 111 min | 4.50% | C− |
| PIT to MCO · Orlandothin sample | 186 | 69.6% | 58 min | 0.54% | C+ |
| PIT to BOS · Bostonthin sample | 164 | 76.7% | 75 min | 0.61% | B+ |
| PIT to CLT · Charlottethin sample | 159 | 74.5% | 59 min | 1.26% | C |
| PIT to EWR · Newarkthin sample | 156 | 79.3% | 58 min | 3.85% | B− |
| PIT to DEN · Denverthin sample | 139 | 73.2% | 57 min | 0.72% | C+ |
| PIT to JFK · New Yorkthin sample | 137 | 73.9% | 85 min | 2.19% | C |
| PIT to DFW · Dallas-Fort Worththin sample | 130 | 73.1% | 90 min | 0.00% | C+ |
| PIT to FLL · Fort Lauderdalethin sample | 117 | 76.1% | 63 min | 3.42% | B− |
| PIT to DCA · Washingtonthin sample | 104 | 61.2% | 54 min | 5.77% | D− |
| PIT to IAD · Washingtonthin sample | 102 | 88.2% | 54 min | 0.00% | A+ |
| PIT to BNA · Nashvillethin sample | 98 | 78.6% | 68 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| PIT to BWI · Baltimorethin sample | 91 | 78.9% | 62 min | 1.10% | B |
| PIT to MDW · Chicagothin sample | 89 | 64.8% | 48 min | 1.12% | D |
| PIT to MSP · Minneapolisthin sample | 84 | 63.9% | 84 min | 1.19% | D |
| PIT to IAH · Houstonthin sample | 75 | 81.3% | 54 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| PIT to PHX · Phoenixthin sample | 71 | 65.7% | 87 min | 0.00% | C+ |
| PIT to TPA · Tampathin sample | 71 | 66.2% | 88 min | 0.00% | C+ |
| PIT to MIA · Miamithin sample | 64 | 76.6% | 72 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| PIT to RDU · Raleighthin sample | 61 | 75.4% | 42 min | 0.00% | B+ |
| PIT to PHL · Philadelphiathin sample | 60 | 78.0% | 90 min | 1.67% | B |
| PIT to DTW · Detroitthin sample | 57 | 69.6% | 94 min | 1.75% | C |
| PIT to RSW · Fort Myersthin sample | 48 | 68.1% | 75 min | 2.08% | C |
Delay causes
What held PIT up in December
Carriers report a reason for every delay minute they cause, in five DOT categories. The split below is by minutes, not by number of flights, so a handful of very long weather delays weighs as much as many short ones. It covers 66,000 reported delay minutes.
- 38%National Airspace System
- 31%Late-arriving aircraft
- 23%Carrier
- 7%Extreme weather
- 0%Security
38% of delay minutes are charged to the National Airspace System: air traffic volume, runway configuration, ground stops. No carrier can price its way out of that, which is why airport choice moves the number here more than carrier choice does. That is 25,000 minutes out of 66,000, against a national NAS share of 19%. The split is drawn from 65,653 reported delay minutes.
Cancellations sit at 1.50% against a national 1.55%, which is ordinary. Diversions add another 0.14%.
For anyone connecting, the number to weigh is not the on-time rate but the tail behind it. 9.8% of arrivals land a full hour or more behind schedule, against 10.0% nationally. A 45-minute layover does not survive that, and no amount of walking quickly changes it. Ninety minutes is the honest minimum here, and two hours if the onward flight is on a separate ticket.
What to do with this
Flying from PIT in December
For a December trip through PIT: plan on this being one of the airport's harder months. The 5am–8am departures held up best at 83.3% on time, and with 9.8% of arrivals an hour or more late, a connection here deserves more slack than the same trip in September would.
Related
Where to go next
- Pittsburgh International (PIT), the whole year
- PIT in July76.7%
- PIT in August82.6%
- PIT in September86.2%
- PIT in October83.0%
- PIT in November84.4%
- PIT in January79.2%
- PIT in February83.6%
- PIT in March78.6%
- PIT in April85.3%
- PIT in May84.6%
- PIT in June79.1%
Source: US DOT Bureau of Transportation Statistics, on-time performance data, July 2025 to June 2026. Last updated 15 September 2026; recomputed monthly. How this data is collected.